Kani Doraku – Probably The Best Crab Meal You Ever Tried

One of the most popular restaurants in Osaka has to be Kani Doraku (Dotombori Honten), a restaurant specialising in crabs, especially Japanese snow crabs.

The branch at Dotonbori beside the Shinsaibashi Bridge is Kani Doraku’s original outlet! It’s a 4 storey building and despite that, customers still have to wait for at least 30mins to an hour before they can enter to eat. You won’t be able to miss the restaurant with a massive crab as the icon.

When you enter, you will see lots of crabs in the tank.

In the lift, the ceiling will turn blue revealing more crabs. What a crabby experience.

The interior is of course Japanese style seating but don’t worry, you can put your legs down comfortably in the space below the table.

The beautiful sight while you enjoy your meal.

So we actually had to wait for 1 hour before there were seats for us. We didn’t wait there physically but rather we were given tickets and we went around shopping instead.

The special chopsticks for you to eat the crabs.

As a general rule, lunch in Japanese restaurants is cheaper while dinner is more expensive. We were here for dinner and ordered the cheapest Crab Set.

Crab sashimi! This is a brand new experience for me since it’s my first time having crab sashimi. Fresh, sweet and delicious! Some might not like it due to the slimy texture of the raw crab.

Crab Chawanmushi (right) enjoy this classic dish with some crab meat. Crab gratin (left) is something more filling with potato and cream.

Crab sushi is the dish which will be quite filling since the other dishes won’t really fill your stomach.

Nicely fried tempura which is non-greasy. I guess there are not many places serving crab tempura, so this is a brand new experience!

We ended off our meal with some fruits and I especially loved the melon as it was so sweet!

Kani Doraku is a restaurant you have to check out if you enjoy crabs! It’s an interesting experience but the next time I’m back, I will definitely come back for lunch as it will be more affordable. This might probably the best crab meal you will ever try, don’t miss it if you are going to Osaka!

[Osaka] Kani Doraku Dotonbori Honten

Address

1 Chome-6-18 Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0071

Via

Subway: Kintetsu Nippombashi / Namba

Opens

Daily: 11am – 11pm

Contact

AroiMakMak.com is the brainchild of Wilbur Suen. He is based in Singapore but loves Bangkok so much that he keeps returning. He loves travelling, eating, technology and has high standards for them. In his free time, he will be sourcing for new places to visit so that he can document and share. Try to catch him in Bangkok eating local dishes, enjoying aromatherapy spa or chilling at a rooftop bar.